COVID-19 Update: Friday, November 5th, 2021

Long-Covid, Vaccine risk compared to Covid risk, Boosters, MU, Herbs and Mushrooms, Treatment, Vaccines for Children,

1. New research has shown that people who get infected with COVID can experience "brain fog" as a result. The latest study found brain fog persisting up to 8 months after recovery. Brain function was affected in several ways: a) learning new information (24%), b) memory recall (23%), and c) mental task or processing speed was slower (18%). These effects were most prominent in those who had been hospitalized with COVID but not exclusive to them.

2. The vaccines for COVID come with some very rare neurological risks such as Guillian Barre Syndrome, Bells Palsy, hemorrhagic stroke, and transverse myelitis. Having COVID also can lead to the same neurological risks/disorders. So researchers at Oxford wanted to determine which one (getting covid or getting the vaccine) had the higher risk of neurological disorders. They found that having COVID resulted in a higher risk of these neurological disorders than the risk associated with getting the vaccine.

3. The need for booster shots is NOT proof that the vaccines don't work. It is normal. Other vaccines come in a series too. HBV, HPV and Shringrex, are examples (just to name a couple) that have "boosters." The idea is that it gives your body time to fully respond. Don't get your boosters early - 6 months is sort of the sweet spot to give you the best result. The Moderna booster is only a 1/2 dose, which I like. As a reminder, most of the research suggests getting a booster that is different than your original provides the best protection.

4. According to the New England Journal of Medicine, The Mu variant of SARS-CoV-2 was found to be 10.6 times more resistant to vaccine serum neutralization than its parental B.1 virus, and 1.5 times more resistant than Beta. The good news is that the Mu variant doesn't seem to be overly prevalent in the US. It is in every state, but not spreading as one might expect, that doesn't mean it can't/won't but for now, we seem good on this front.

5. Herbs and mushrooms are being tested to see if they have any clinical benefit in the fight against Covid. The tests are just starting but stay tuned.

6. The Pfizer, antiviral treatment is proving to be about 89% effective at reducing hospitalization and death from COVID - so this is very good news. We need effective prevention and treatment to get this under control.

7. To end today I want to share what we know about vaccinations in Kids 5-11. They are now approved to be vaccinated. You can read the full FDA report here. Here are some things to know.

   • The vaccine contains 10 micrograms of antigen—a third the size of the adult dose. As with adults, children will get 2 doses 21 days apart.

   • The risk of severe COVID in children 5-11 is low. But there are risks associated with having COVID.

     • Nearly 100 children in that age group have died from COVID.

     • 745 total children under the age of 18 have died to date. As a comparison, the Flu kills about 150-200 children a year.

     • Children can develop long-covid.

     • Children who get COVID can develop MIS-C, to date, over 5k children have developed MIS-C, just over 2k were ages 5-11. Nine children have died from it.

     • Children who get COVID may experience heart issues such as myocarditis.

   • As with every vaccine, there are risks associated with the vaccine.

     • myocarditis - most common among males ages 12-29 in response to the mRNA vaccines. Myocarditis is treatable and there have been no confirmed cases of death from myocarditis-related vaccination.

Most parents want information on the possible adverse events. You can see the rull report at the link above but I wanted to share some of the key findings from the study. Remember, reactogenicity is the effect of the immune response - that sick feeling you get as your body launches the immune attack on a known invader, so that gives you an idea of what to expect post shot in regards to your child not feeling well.

Direct from the FDA report:

Overall, frequencies of any AEs reported after Dose 1 up to 1 month after Dose 2 were similar in the vaccinated and placebo groups (10.9% vs 9.2%). Many of the AEs were reflective of reactogenicity events that were reported as AEs (ie, headache, vomiting, and injection site pain). AE frequencies in these reactogenicity SOCs (BNT162b2 vs placebo) were: • general disorders and administration site conditions: 1.6% vs 1.7% • gastrointestinal disorders: 1.6% vs 1.7% • nervous system disorders: 0.7% vs 0.5% • musculoskeletal and connective tissue disorders: 0.5% vs 0.7%

Overall, many AEs reported up to 1 month after Dose 2 were attributable to vaccine reactogenicity events. In this regard, the pattern of AEs reported in children 5 to <12 years of age was generally consistent with that observed in prior analyses of Phase 2/3 participants ≥12 years of age in Study C4591001.

And in regard to more serious possibilities:

• no allergic reactions were reported (but remember the test group was small (around 2200 kids so we can't rule this out as a possibility.

• Direct from the report: From Dose 1 to 1 month after Dose 2, severe AEs were low in frequency (0.1%) in both the BNT162b2 and placebo groups. No life-threatening (ie, Grade 4) AEs were reported from Dose 1 to 1 month after Dose 2.

• Rash, although rare, is possible.

• Lymphadenopathy occurred in 0.9% of cases and resolved within 4 days.

I hope this helps as you work to determine what is best for you and your children.

Final Thoughts: The world is so full of angry people. I'm sure you've noticed. People are quick to judge situations and other people they don't even know. Quick to pound out cruel and unrelenting words on social media. Quick to spread lies and deceit. Quick to cut you off, flip you off, or tell you off. Today, let's slow down. Let's be slow to anger, slow to lose our cool, and slow to judge. Today, let's acknowledge that there may be things we don't know. And even when there aren't, let's be gentle and kind in correction and redirection. And how about we take it one small step further and reserve the correction and redirection for those with whom we have that kind of relationship. Let's leave the haters to stew in their own hatred. We don't have to combat them all, we don't have to cast our pearls to the swine (so to speak).

And just in case no one has told you today, you are great. You are loved. You are amazing. You are not perfect, and that is perfectly ok. In fact, it is part of what makes you amazing. Thank you for being you and for striving every day to be a better and better version of yourself.